Electric switch.



H. D. GRINNBLL.

` ELEGTRIG SWITCH.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 2s, 1909.

936,775. 4 Patented o@t.12,1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

TTORNE YS H. D. GRINNELL.

ELECTRIC SWITCH APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2,3, 1909.

Patented 001;. 12,]1909.

WIT/VESSES Y UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

HAROLD DUNCAN G RINNELL, O F NEW BEDFORD. MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRIC SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct. 1909.

Original application led March 2l, 1908, Serial No. 422,507. Divided andthis applicationvled March 23,

. 1909. Serial 110.485,159. I

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, 'HAROLD D. GRINNELL, a .citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of New Bedford, in the county of Bristol andState of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved ElectricSwitch, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,this. being a' division of the appli.- cation for A,Letters Patent ofthe United States, for anselectric, lighting device for motor-vehiclelamps, Serial No. 422,507, filed by me on March 21, 1908.

The obj ect of the invention is to provide a new and improved electricswitch, more especially designed for turning on or off the gas supplyfor the lamps of an 'automobile or other motor vehicle, and at .theSametime controlling the igniting devices for the said lamps.y Thedesired result is obtained by the use of a manually-controlled switchshaft, having an arm carrying a pinion in mesh with an internal gearwheel formed of alter- Dating., insulated and contact-malnng sections.

A practical embodiment of the inventlon is represented in theaccompanying drawlngs forming a part of this specification, 1n whlch ysimilar -characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theviews.

Figure l 1s a front view of the lswitch 1n normal or inactive positionrelative to the electric lighting device, when the` gas supply for thelamp and the electric current for the Vsparker are turned od; Fig.2 is atransverse section of the same `on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is arear face view of the same; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of thesparkers; and F1g. 5 is a diagrammatic view of .the improvement, showingthe switch in position after having turned on the gas sulp? ply forthelamps, cut oi the current for igniting device of the mainl cylinderand switched the current to the sparker of the first vehicle lamp.

As indicated in Fig. '5, three acetylene or' other gas lamps A, A', A2of any approved construction, are mounted in suitable places on themotor vehicle, and the burners B for the said gas lamps A, A' and A2 aresupplied with gas by a pipe C providedv with a gas cock .or valve D,connected with the gas supply tank E, arranged on the running board orother part of the motorvehicle. Across the burners B of the/gas 'lampsA, A', Ael

are arranged the spaced electrodes F, F', F2,

F3 and F4, F5 of the sparkers for the said burners, to light the gas byjump sparks, as the gas issues :from the burners, as hereinaftermore-fully explained. The electrodes F, F2, F* 'are connected by abranch wire G' with the wire G connecting the induction coil H withthe'cylinders I of the motor, each cylinder having the usual ignitingdey vice I for igniting the explosive mixture at the proper-time,controlled by the commu- Atutor H', connected with the induction coil Hand the battery H2 or other source of electricity supply,y and likewiseconnected with the induction coil H. The electrodes F', F3

land F5 are connected by wires J, J', J 2 with binding posts K, K', K2held on the switch lboard L attached to the motor vehicle, ad- 'acent tothe operator, and on the said switch oard is arranged a main binding ostN connected-by 'a wire N', with the 1n uction coil H, and another mainbinding post N? held on the said switch board L'is connected by `a WireN3 with the ignitin device I of one ofthe cylinders I. It will veunderstood that the binding posts may be connected with any of thecylinders, and the commutator H' is shown as connected only to thecylinder which has been shown for convenience.

In the switch board L is journaled a shaft O, on which is secured an armO' carrying a pinion O2 in mesh with an internal gear wheel Psecured tothe rear face of the switch' board L, and formed of sections P', P2, P3,I, P",` of which the sections P', P3 and P5 are of insulating material,while the sections P2`and l?4 are of metall and connected with .thebinding posts K and; K'. The main binding p ost N2 is located at the endof the in# sulating section P', and the binding post K2, previouslymentioned, is located at the end of the insulating section l?5 (see Fig.3), and` whenthe armV O.' and itspinion O2 are in l the extemepositions, .the pinion contactsV shaft O, so that when the latter andits arm O' are in the position shown in Fig.` 3, then-'1 the circuit forthe igniting devices I for the several cylinders I of the motor, areclosed successively by the commutator H' in the usual manner, but whenthe pinion O2 moves out .of contact with the binding post N2 thenthecurrents for the igniting devices I' are interrupted. The shaft() ispressed on by a spring O3,- to normally hold the pinion O2 in contactwith the main binding post N2, and on the said shaft Oris secured apinion O4 adapted to be engaged by a segmental gear wheel Q, mounted toswing on a stud Q held on the switch board L, the segmental gear wheeLQbeing provided with a handle Q2, normally restingagainst a stop pin Q2attached to the switch board L. The segmental v gear wheel Q when in thenormal position arrangement described, the operator can turn' the valveD more or less, to regulate the flow of gas to the several burners.

When the handle tion shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3, then the gas cock D isturned oli, the electric circuit for the igniting devices I is closedsubject 'to the action of the commutator H, and the electric current isswitched off from the f dle Q2 sparkers on the burners B of the severalgas lamps A,.A', A2. Now when it is desired to light the gas lamps A,A', A2, it is only necessary tor the operatorto swing thehantemporarily'over in the ldirection of the arrow a', so that thesegmental gear wheel Q irst turns the se mental gear wheel R, wherebythe shaft R2 is turned and with 'it the gas cock D, to allow the 'gas topass from the reservoir E to the several burners The segmental gearwheel Q finally leaves the segmental gear wheel R-at the time the cock Dis open, and then on the further swinging of the handle Q2 in the di-lrection'of the varrow a `the segmental gear wheel Q movesy in mesh withpinion O2, thus turning the latter and the shaft O, whereby the armh Ois'caused to Swingin the direction of the arrow b', thus moving thepinion O2 'out ofv contactgwith 'the main binding post N12, thereby'interru ting the circuit for the igniting devices I o lthe motorcylinders I. The pinion O2Lafter passing over the insulating section Pmoves in meshv with the metallic section P2 carr 'n the binding post K,whereb the circuit tor the electrodes F, F is'c o'sed, and'a jump sparkpasses from f one electrode to' the other across'the ath ofthe gas nowvissuing through the urner BL'u Thusrthe gas is ignited and consequentlyff'the-lamp A is lighted. Further' turning ofthe arm O in thedirection of the arrow b"fmov"esthe pinion 'O2 out of mesh withthesectionPand in mesh with the insulating section P5, so thaty theycurrent for,v the electrodesf'F-2-wF2 is disconnected, 'and the pinionO2 *in finally rv'coming' in contact Q2 is in the normal posi'- with thebinding post K2 closes the electric current for the electrodes F2, F5,whereby the third lamp A2 is lighted. The operator now releasesthehandle Q2 so that the spring O2 returns the shaft O, the segmental gearwheel Q, the handle Q2 and the arm O, until the segmental gear wheel Qfinally leaves the pinion O2 and stands midway between the said pinionO2 and the segmental gear wheel R. As soon as the segmental gear wheel Qleaves the pinion O2, the spring U2 continues the return movement of theshaft O and the arm O, until the pinion O2 makes contact with the mainbinding post N2, so that the circuit vfor the igniting devices I isagain closed. The above described movement of the handle Q2 is veryquick, so thatonly a temporary interruption of the current for theigniting devices I takes place, but use is made of this electric currentfor producing jump sparks at the electrodes F, F, F2, F2 and F4, F5, asabove explained.

1t will be noticed that as the handle Q2 does not return to the finalnormal position, it is evident that the gas cock D remains turned on,and when it is desired to turn out the lamps, it is only necessary forthe operator to swing 'the handle Q2 back to its iinal position on thestop pin Q2, and in doing so the segmental gear wheel Q will turn thesegmental gear wheel R to' turn off the gas cock D and thus shut olf thesupply of gas from the reservoir E tothe several burners B.

In order to vpermit of lighting the lamps A, A1, A2 still, a shuntcircuit S having a switch S is used to directly connect the battery H2with the induction coil H. The switch S is normally open and is onlyclosed when it is desired to light the lamps A, A', A2 at the time thevehicle is at a standstill; it bein understood that after the switch Sis clos the operator swings the lever Q2 around, the same as abovedescribed, to turn on the gas and to successively close the circuits forthe several sets of electrodes F, F, F2, Fs and F4, F5, and thus lightone lamp after the other. When this has been done, the lever Q2 isreleased and the switch S is again opened.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to securebyLetters Patent:

l. A switch having a switch board, an internal gear wheel E xed on thesaid board and formed of 'alternating ,insulated and contact-makinsections, a manually-controlled switch s aft, an\arm on the said shaftand carrying a pinion in mesh with the said gear wheel, and a sprin forreturning the shaft'and its arm and pinion on release 'of thev shaft.

2. A `switch having a switch board, an internal gear wheel fixed on thesaid board at a time the vehicle is at a standand formed of alternating`insulated and contact makin trolled switch s aft, an arm on the saidshaft ternal gear Wheel fixed `on the said board and carrying'a 'pinionin mesh with the said gear Wheel, a spring for actuating the shaft' andits a'rrn and' pinion on release ofA the shaft, actuating means forturning' on a gas supply, and a gearlng connecting the said actuatingmeans with the said shaft.l

3; 'A switch having 'a switch board',` an in-l sections, a manually-con-4 gear wheel, a spring for actuating the shaft and its -arm andpinion -on release of the shaft, an operati-n pinion on the said shaft,actuating means or turning on a gas supply and having a pinion, and amanuallycontrolled segmental gear wheel for successiVely engaging andturning the said pinions.

In testimony whereof I have signed my tivo subscribing witnesses.

HAROLD DUNCAN GRINNELL.

Witnesses:

FREDK. D. SfrETsoN, v ELIOT STETsoN.

v name to this specification in the presence of r

